The Fights Page 71 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Boxer Orlando Cruz Wins First Fight After Coming Out As Gay
Well this is the feel-good story of the day. The boxer Orlando Cruz announced two weeks ago that he is gay, likely becoming the first boxer to do so during his career. And on Friday, Cruz, the WBO's fourth-ranked featherweight, successfully beat the shit out of Jorge Pazos, winning a unanimous decis...

We Now Have A Gay Athlete Who Can Beat The Hell Out Anyone Who Has A Problem With It
Well, Megan Rapinoe could probably beat up your average bigot, but the roster of gay men in sports had been lacking anyone actively participating in a sport and, therefore, anyone who might put the lie to the homophobe's treasured notion that gay people are unathletic or unfit for competition. Kevin...

"Mike Tyson's Day Of The Champions" Speaking Tour May Have To Go On Without Mike Tyson
Presumably, if you buy a ticket for something called "Mike Tyson's Day of the Champions," you might be expecting (a) Mike Tyson and (b) some champions, especially if you're shelling out between $70 and $300 (US) to attend. For weeks, residents of Australia and New Zealand have been doing just that...

Well-Known, Elderly Boxing Promoter: I Smoke Pot All The Time, And So Does Every Other Boxing Promoter
Look at that friggin' pothead up there. That's Bob Arum, founder and CEO of Top Rank, which has promoted fighters from Muhammad Ali to Ray Mancini to Butterbean. Hey Bob, you with us, buddy? Or are you too busy getting stoned on grass to be a productive member of society? Are you too busy going to ...

Manny Pacquiao Will Take A 45-55 Split, So It's Time For Floyd Mayweather To Stop Being A Baby And Fight Him Already
Pacquiao's going to fight Juan Manuel Marquez—yes, again. But every fight Pacquiao has taken for the last few years has something of "when are they going to get to the fireworks factory?" about it. When are we going to get the damn Mayweather fight already?...

Fun With Graphs: How UFC Fights End, Sorted By Weight Class
Reed Kuhn, of the excellent Fightnomics, has run the numbers, and they've been graphed. Are there more knockouts and stoppages the higher you go in weight? A resounding yes. Don't you love it when the conventional wisdom is backed up by a colorful chart? [CagePotato]...

Judge Orders Floyd Mayweather To Pay More Than $113,000 In Legal Fees To Manny Pacquiao
Unafraid boxer Floyd Mayweather recently was released from prison after two months, which means feverish speculation of when/whether/if he'll eventually fight Manny Pacquiao can begin anew in earnest. But before that any of that comes to pass, Mayweather will need check his couch cushions to make a ...

Retired British Boxer Found Dead In His Home, His Body Parts Allegedly Found In Freezer
Shaun Cummins, a British boxer who retired in 1995, was found dead in his home in England last Wednesday. What are believed to be parts of his dismembered body were found in his freezer. Thomas Dunkley, a 28-year-old acquaintance of Cummins, has been arrested and charged with murdering Cummins....

Mike Tyson: Evander Holyfield's Barbecue Sauce Is Ear-Licking Good
A while back, Holyfield and Tyson began using twitter to spread the word about Holyfield's "Real Deal" BBQ sauce. It was all good-natured, Holyfield even said "Love ya, bro!" after mentioning how his BBQ sauce would make you want to chew on an ear. Oh yeah, Tyson, to refresh your memory, once bit E...

Regular Dude Jon Jones Is Under Siege Because He Shares a Name With The MMA Fighter
You know how this goes. You're just a regular guy, living his life, when all of a sudden, Jon "Bones" Jones cancels UFC 151, ruining everything. So, you do the only logical thing you can do. Google "Jon Jones," find his twitter handle and tell him how you think he's the biggest pussy this side of Mi...

Blackmail, Sexual Obsession, Fight Fixing: Behind The Weird Scenes On The Night Floyd Patterson Conquered Boxing
Excerpted from W.K. Stratton's Floyd Patterson: The Fighting Life of Boxing's Invisible Champion, available today from fine booksellers everywhere....

MMA Fighter Mysteriously Dies After Fight Is Called
Tyrone Mims (pictured right) was a 30-year-old amatuer mixed martial artist and father of five, participating in an event in South Carolina Saturday night when midway through the second round of his fight, officials called the match. According to Richard Seidlitz (In an apparently exclusive intervie...

Claressa Shields Won The First Women's Gold Medal In USA Boxing History
Claressa Shields won the women's middleweight division today, bringing home the first gold in USA women's boxing history, at the first Games where women's boxing was granted a spot. Shields beat Sweden's Anna Laurell in the quarterfinals, Kazakhstan's Marina Volnova in the semifinals, and Russia's ...

When Great Britain And Ireland Meet Up In Women's Boxing, You Can Bet Somebody's Getting The Snot Punched Out Of Them
Boxing's been an Olympic event since 1904, but you won't see any boxers from the olden days showing up under the Irish flag because back then Ireland had yet to recover its freedom. While things have calmed down somewhat since The Troubles, a sports rivalry will likely always exist between the Br...

MMA Fighter With Full Complement Of Arms Knocked Out By One-Armed Man
Nick Newell (no-relation) is now 8-0 in his MMA career despite only having one arm. He compensates by relying on his knees and legs and, as you can see above, it works out pretty well for him. The best part is the announcer, who sounds like he may be Ray Hudson's less successful brother, referring...

The First Woman Ever To Box For The United States Gets In The Ring Tomorrow Morning
"Unless women's boxing can be built into a viable spectator sport, our quadrennial national orgy of athletic feel-good self-congratulation will be for naught. Olympic boxing is nice. But it is and always has been a mere prelude to a professional career." Y'all like reading Hamilton Nolan on boxing? ...

Another Ridiculous Olympic Boxing Decision Gets Reversed
The International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) has reversed a dubious decision in yet another Olympic boxing match, this one involving American welterweight Errol Spence Jr. and India's Krishan Vikas. Spence lost yesterday's bout with Vikas when the judges scored the fight 13-11 in favor of V...

Was This Disgraceful Olympic Boxing Match Fixed?
Knockdowns are exceedingly rare in Olympic boxing. Japan’s Satoshi Shimizu knocked down Azerbaijan’s Magomed Abdulhamidov five times in the third and final round of their bantamweight bout yesterday. And yet, the judges scored the round in favor of the one who spent more time on the canvas than on ...

NBC Interviewed A Random Tourist About The Queen, And Didn't Realize He Was Evander Holyfield
This morning's Today Show was still, for some reason, talking about that opening ceremony bit with Daniel Craig and HRH Queen Elizabeth II. They decided to get some "man on the street" comments from tourists in front of Buckingham Palace, and one of them was Evander Holyfield! Blink and you'll mis...

American Beach Volleyball Players Respect The Sanctity Of The Bikini
You may notice some wardrobe changes while watching beach volleyball at these Olympics: A good number of teams will forego the traditional bikini in favor of loose-fitting shorts and t-shirts. But not the principled American women! The U.S. beach volleyball team will stick with the briefest of unifo...